The start of the new school year signals the end of a peak holiday season for Interislander which saw staff serve more than 10,000 ice creams and more than one tonne of butter chicken to passengers in December and January.
The start of the new school year signals the end of a peak holiday season for Interislander which saw staff serve more than 10,000 ice creams and more than one tonne of butter chicken to passengers in December and January.
Interislander Executive General Manager Walter Rushbrook says that with New Zealand’s borders closed to overseas visitors, it was no surprise that passenger numbers for December and January were about 20 per cent down on the same period the previous year.
“That didn’t stop New Zealanders enjoying their time on our floating restaurants, with passengers licking their way through 10,094 ice creams and enjoying 28,932 punnets of hot chips.
“We also had our busiest day of the season on Sunday 3rd January, with 6,108 passengers travelling across the Cook Strait on our ferries.
“It’s not just people and cars travelling with us. Over December and January, we safely carried nearly 7,000 dogs across the strait.
“Crews at our Picton and Wellington terminals, and aboard Aratere, Kaiarahi and Kaitaki have been doing a great job of hosting passengers and showcasing our capital’s harbour, the expansive Cook Strait, and the Marlborough Sounds.
“Our resident on-board magician, Nigel Kennedy, conjured up an impressive 6,200 balloon animals for his delighted audiences.
“It’s also been a busy season for the Interislander production kitchen, based at Kaiwharawhara in Wellington. Over summer, the kitchen is open 7 days and produces between 3,500 and 5,000 food items each day.
“Bulk batches of butter chicken are made from scratch and it continues to be our best-selling meal produced in the Kaiwharawhara kitchen. Over the holiday period, passengers travelling with us ate around 4,500 servings of butter chicken.”
While on board the ferries during December and January, passengers also consumed: